Separate community input sessions in St. Paul and Minneapolis are planned this month as the organization examines the options for its signature event, the temporary installation of artist-designed ice shanties on a frozen metro-area lake. The organization last winter drew more than 40,000 people to Lake Harriet, a record for attendance, but canceled its return to the lake in January after failing to secure a critical grant.

Art Shanty Projects learned in July it would not receive a Minnesota State Arts Board grant that was expected to cover roughly 70 percent of its annual budget. That led to an $85,000 shortfall.

The budget for the 2018 on-ice program was about $100,000, Jason Buranen, chair of the Art Shanty Projects board of directors said in a September interview. At the time, he added that the budget should be closer to $150,000, an amount that would allow it to raise the stipend paid to participating artists.

Art Shanty Projects does not charge admission to its on-ice program.

First organized on Medicine Lake in Plymouth over the winter of 2004-05, Art Shanty Projects’ on-ice program moved briefly to White Bear Lake before holding its first Minneapolis event on Lake Harriet last year. Half of its audience and more than two-thirds of participating artists live in Minneapolis.

The organization has skipped the on-ice program at least once before, going on hiatus in 2013. Unseasonably warm weather and thin ice also forced adjustments in 2016.